UPDATE: 12/4/13, 6:39 p.m. EST. The names of the lawyers from Mayer Brown also advising ArcelorMittal have been added to the ninth paragraph of this story.

German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp has found a way out of its disastrous investment in the U.S. by agreeing to sell an Alabama steel plant to a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal for roughly $1.6 billion.